Cleaning products are one of the first places that Keepers of the Home look to eliminate toxins and chemicals from our households.

For me, making homemade all-natural cleaning projects was a logical first step, because I love to follow recipes, which is all that is really involved in making your own cleansers!

I spent hours scouring the internet back in the day for ideas, suggestions, recipes, and useful hints on the topic of homemade cleaners.After lots of trial and error, I have found a few that are my go-to faves, and I’m sharing them today so that you don’t have to do all of the leg work!

Before I get into the specific recipes, though, let me just say this:white vinegar and baking soda clean Just. About. Everything. You’ll see it’s the main combination in a bunch of the recipes below, but there are oodles of other things it can clean, too!(You’ll get a chuckle out of all the ways my daughters have learned to use it, too!)

Homemade All-Purpose Cleaner

Mix the vinegar, essential oils and a little water before adding baking soda in a clean spray bottle (glass is best). Then fill to top with water. I use about a 12 oz bottle. Gently shake to mix ingredients, and then spray, wipe with a cloth, and allow it to dry.

Homemade Dishwasher Detergent

Mix all ingredients together. Transfer to an air-tight storage container.It will last a long time:each load uses only 2 tablespoons of detergent!(I recommend keeping white vinegar in the rinse agent compartment, too.)

Homemade Oven Cleaner

½ cup baking soda

2 – 3 Tbsp water (or more/less)

White vinegar (1/2 cup or so)

In a small bowl, mix ½ cup of baking soda and stir in 2 – 3 tablespoons of water, adjusting as needed to get a spreadable paste.

Spread this all over the walls of your ovens, rubbing it in for a scrubbing effect.

Let that mixture rest overnight.

In the morning, you will put some vinegar in a spray bottle and spritz everywhere you see baking soda, which will create a foaming action.Wipe clean with a damp cloth, rinsing until clean.

Homemade Drain Cleaner

¼ – ½ cup baking soda

¼ cup white vinegar

Sprinkle baking soda down the clogged or smelly drain, and follow that with the vinegar.Let the bubbling mixture sit for an hour or so, then pour boiling hot water down the drain to rinse.

Depending on how smelly or clogged the drain is, you may need to repeat the process again.Once you do it regularly, you’ll find that one time usually takes care of it!

Moving out of the kitchen, let’s talk bathroom cleaning.

A lot of the same principles that apply to cleaning the kitchen carry over into the bathroom.

For example, vinegar and baking soda still play a large role, and the disinfectant power of certain essential oils is key.Here are some of my favorite ways to tackle one of the most-used rooms in the house:

Toilet Bowl Cleaner

Did you notice I didn’t write “Homemade” in the title of this one?That’s because technically the ingredient I’m about to tell you about isn’t homemade – and it’s going to blow your mind!

Are you ready??

Kool-Aid.

Yep, the nectar of our childhoods is an amazing toilet bowl cleaner.Specifically, the lemonade Kool-Aid.Here’s the poop, er, I mean scoop:

Lemonade has citric acid, which helps clean the toilet bowl.(So does the old Astronaut Orange Beverage TANG, but does anyone actually have that anymore?)

All you have to do is flush your toilet, sprinkle a package of Kool-Aid lemonade around the sides and scrub with a toilet bowl brush.Let this sit for several hours (overnight is best), and then flush in the morning.

Combine the first three ingredients in the container (you may need a funnel to get it in there) and then pour in the water to dissolve the ingredients.Fill the container to the top with cold water.Shake before each use.For a standard-sized load of laundry, ¼ cup should work.Use a little more for a more heavily-soiled load.

(Note:This has worked in HE washers with great results!)

Homemade Stain Remover

There are a few ways I like to tackle stains in the laundry room.First, let me just say that a 3% Hydrogen Peroxide solution is a super stain remover!I’ve used it on lots of stains where I spray it on, let it soak, and then launder as normal.(Note to moms of girls just getting their first periods:there is nothing better to deal with the “Aunt Flow” stains in the underwear or on the sheets!)

There’s also the mixture of washing soda and white vinegar.You simply sprinkle the washing soda onto the stain, spray with white vinegar that has been diluted in a 1:1 ratio with water.Scrub the paste into the stain and let it stand for about 20 minutes.Launder as normal.

For really tough stains, like grass stains, the magic of Dawn dish soap comes in handy.This one calls for a bit of a recipe:

Homemade Fabric Softener

20 drops of essential oil for fragrance (optional, especially if your conditioner has a nice scent)

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well.Pour into empty storage container (such as empty fabric soft container).

Use approximately ¼ cup per normal washload prior to the rinse cycle.

Homemade Dryer Sheets

This is super easy to do!Find a bunch of hubby’s old t-shirts (not his beloved old t-shirts, but the others!) and cut them into washcloth sized squares.

Next, you will take some of the homemade fabric softener from the recipe above, and fill about ½ of an airtight, lidded storage container with this.Place the t-shirts in the container, and press them down to soak up the fabric softener.

Squeeze out excess before tossing a square into the dryer with your clothes.These are obviously recyclable, and don’t have to be laundered between uses!

And finally, to the living areas of the house.

Homemade Dusting Spray

Combine ingredients in a spray bottle and shake gently to combine.Use as you would any typical dusting spray, either spraying onto a clean cloth and wiping, or spraying on the surface and wiping.(I’d start with the first option, or test a small area of the furniture first).

Homemade Wood Polishing Spray

Combine ingredients in a spray bottle and shake vigorously.Spray directly on wood furniture and buff with a clean, dry cloth.Shake before each use.

Homemade Carpet Freshener (With Added Benefits)

In addition to freshening the smell in a room, this combination of ingredients can disinfect, kill fleas and their eggs, and act as a rodent deterrent.

2 cups Borax

1 cup baking soda

10 drops essential oil

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix well.Store in an air-tight container.When you’re ready to use, just sprinkle around the carpet and let sit for about half an hour.Vacuum up, and you’re good to go!

Homemade Carpet Stain Remover

Sprinkle the stain with baking soda and let it sit for about 10 minutes, then vacuum it up.

Ann Timm considers herself blessed to be the wife of a Christ follower and mother to six amazingly cool kids. She strives to keep a happy, healthy home, although she openly admits to failing often. She loves to share her foibles and encourage other women on their journey to healthy living.

Hi Mimi, combining vinegar and baking soda can be quite an experiment of fizzling proportions!! To prevent a mess try adding the essential oils and water to the vinegar first. I use vinegar and baking soda together in a different recipe that puts alcohol and essential oils in the bottle first, then vinegar and finally the baking soda and water and I have never had an issue of the mixture overflowing. We’ll make a note of that in the post as well, thanks for sharing!

I’ve been looking for such recipes for some time and I’m really happy I found them at last! It’s really great that most of the ingredients are already in my home and can’t wait to try them. Thanks for sharing!

That Kool-Aid tip for toilets may be a game changer for us. Our toilets get SO NASTY (we have incredibly hard water where we live) and I resort to muriatic acid to clean off the grime that builds up. Here’s to hoping Kool Aid does the trick!

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I’m Ann. I’ve been part of the Keeper of the Home community for many years. You can read more about me here. How can we help you live a happier, healthier life?